Thursday

Oct 12, 2017 at 7:22 PMOct 13, 2017 at 5:21 PM

A few pans aside, most critics are blown away by Bruce Springsteen's debut on the Great White Way.

UPDATED 10/13 with latest reviews -- see bottom of post.

Well, I certainly didn't see this coming. NJ.com -- which never met a Springsteen-related news item it didn't like -- gave "Springsteen on Broadway" a flat-out pan on opening night, going so far as to call it a "dud" right in the headline.

From Bobby Olivier's review:

Sorry to break the bad news, Bruce fans, but Springsteen's choice to develop this four-month residency in New York by himself, without the help of a stage-savvy director, has proven a cavalier and foolish decision by the rock icon -- the arc of this disjointed production is saved only by its music and the exclusivity of its venue. He would've been better off playing a straight two-hour acoustic set and selling his audiobook with the candy and cocktails.

Ouch! Fortunately for Bruce (and all the people who've shelled out for uber-expensive tickets), most other critics took a much brighter view of his efforts.

From Jeremy Gerard's Deadline Hollywood review:

"Springsteen on Broadway" is a perfect concert ... Seeing Springsteen on Broadway must be similar to what it was like to be in the audience for Clapton Unplugged: an electrifying (well, an acoustifying) session of mostly big big songs rendered without embellishment.

Robert Levin for A.M. New York:

It’s an extraordinary gift — to bring people together, to make us recognize that what binds us matters more than what divides us. And it has been displayed in a new and exciting fashion in “Springsteen on Broadway."

Craig Jenkins for Vulture:

On Broadway isn’t haunted by its ghosts. It’s an act of penitent commemoration.

Andy Greene for Rolling Stone:

The performance is hard to categorize. It's not a concert; not a typical one-man-show; certainly not a Broadway musical. But it is one of the most compelling and profound shows by a rock musician in recent memory.

Jay Lustig for NJarts.net:

I’m not sure if Springsteen will alter “Springsteen on Broadway” in the course of its run, but I do think he could improve it.

Dan DeLuca for the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Springsteen on Broadway puts its audience through an emotional wringer.

Maeve McDermott for USA Today:

And it's quite a show, as Springsteen delivers two hours and 15 songs worth of memories, and revelations, and — for some — plenty of tears.

Chris Jordan for app.com:

Sure, there are dark and ominous undertones in Springsteen on Broadway – particularly regarding his relationship with his late father, Douglas Springsteen – but the uniqueness of Springsteen the rock star translates well to Springsteen the Broadway star.

Hardeep Phull for the New York Post:

True Bruce-heads will have heard these stories hundreds of times, and the songs thousands of times. But having them whispered into your ear from touching distance means they pack a bigger emotional punch.

Elysa Gardner for BBC.com:

Springsteen On Broadway - which arrives roughly a year after his autobiography, Born To Run - is a meticulously crafted, deeply personal journey with set words and music.

Laura Barton for The Guardian:

At such close range, Springsteen’s precision as performer is quite astounding, each moment deliberate yet effortless. He plays as if it’s heavy work, with a strain of the arms and a set of the face.

Tim Teeman for Daily Beast:

This is, for Springsteen fan or not, a warmly involving, beautifully sung, and deftly structured evening of song and storytelling.

The one other exception to the raves so far was Mikael Wood for the LA Times:

He’d taken away the joy and the release that the E Street Band doles out but was no longer replacing it with any fresh introspection; you suddenly longed to be in a much larger room with many more people.

UPDATED 10/13, 9:30 a.m.:

Jesse Green in the New York Times:

“Springsteen on Broadway” is a painful if thrilling summing-up at 68: a major statement about a life’s work, but also a major revision of it.

Madison Vain for Entertainment Weekly:

Springsteen on Broadway lets one of popular music’s most beloved icons flex all kinds of creative muscle in a rare, intimate setting that showcases the true breadth of talents.

Frank DiGiacomo in Billboard:

Since this is Springsteen's theatrical debut, as both a performer and a director, he can be forgiven for a clunky transition or two and for not recognizing that writing that crackles on the printed page can sound florid or overworked when transferred wholesale to a script.

Sam Sodomsky for Pitchfork:

The two-hour Springsteen on Broadway is compact and precise. Every word spoken, every song performed, and every name summoned seems chosen with great purpose.

Jem Aswad for Variety:

“Springsteen on Broadway” is as much a self-made monument to its master’s vision and hurricane-force ambition as it is to his life and career, and it bears the mark of a self-made man who’ll write his own history, thank you very much.

Peter Marks for Washington Post:

“Springsteen on Broadway” erases any last whiffs of Broadway squareness that were not totally eradicated by “The Book of Mormon” and “Hamilton.” He also has a story to tell; the show is almost as much spoken word as music. It’s a Concert-Plus.

UPDATED 10/13, 5:30 p.m.:

Chris Phillips on Backstreets.com:

The resulting feeling of intimacy accounts for a considerable part of the show's power — it's certainly part of what you're after when you pay your money down — and it's difficult to imagine this performance playing nearly as well in a larger hall. It's tailored for the space.

Amanda Petrusich in The New Yorker:

Springsteen’s mission has always been to be a useful conduit—to reflect or articulate something back at us. But he is a model, too, and “Springsteen on Broadway” contains suggestions on how to age: admit your flaws and inconsistencies, your put-ons, your masks, your fears and humiliations.

Jen Carlson for Gothamist:

There is no beer splashing out of cups into the air, no dancing or standing, just you and him—at least that's how it feels—and whatever you are willing to take from the lessons the legend is offering.

Chris Jones for Chicago Tribune:

The lighting designer Natasha Katz, whose truly astonishing work is easily missed but crucial, plays her instruments on his craggy brow, letting him hide in shadows but always pulling him toward the light.